Field of the Invention
The disclosed embodiments relate to a vehicle display device and a vehicle display method.
Related Art
Recently, various devices for providing light inside a vehicle cabin, which is a space occupied by an occupant, have been proposed. For example, in order to improve decorative properties inside a vehicle cabin, a door trim provided with a lighting device (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2001-151012), is known. Further, technology that uses a fabric covering the surface of an interior component of a vehicle as a lighting device so that the inside of the vehicle cabin is uniformly lit (see, for example, JP-A No. 2010-267573), is known. This technology employs an optical fiber woven fabric in which optical fibers are woven together with specific threads as the fabric on the interior component, and unevenness in light emission from the optical fiber woven fabric is suppressed by adjusting the spacing and the brightness of light emission of the optical fibers.
However, although providing light inside the vehicle cabin may provide brightness, this may not provide an occupant with information. For example, when driving the vehicle, the occupant checks the surrounding conditions of the vehicle by visually checking mirrors, making direct visual checks, and the like. In this process, in order to provide information to make the occupant aware of the surrounding conditions of the vehicle, there is a need to provide information indicating the surrounding conditions of the vehicle. Accordingly, merely providing light inside the vehicle cabin is insufficient.
Recently, driving assistance technology that assists an occupant with driving a vehicle is progressing. Accompanying advances in driving assistance technology, it is thought that driving assistance will include cases in which the occupant hands over driving control to the vehicle side. In such cases, the surrounding conditions of the vehicle change constantly accompanying vehicle travel, and it is preferable for the occupant to be aware of the surrounding conditions of the vehicle. Note that, in cases in which driving control is handed over to the vehicle side, sometimes the occupant's level of concentration may be in a reduced state in comparison to a state in which the occupant maintains their level of concentration when manually driving the vehicle. When in such a state of reduced concentration, merely providing light inside the vehicle cabin may not be sufficient to make the occupant aware of the surrounding conditions of the vehicle.